"Well written, funny and wistful" - Paul Linford; "He is indeed the Lib Dem blogfather" - Stephen Tall"Jonathan Calder holds his end up well in the competitive world of the blogosphere" - New Statesman"A prominent Liberal Democrat blogger" - BBC Radio 4 Today programme"Charming and younger than I expected" - Wartime Housewife

Monday, December 07, 2015

Greviile Janner is unfit to stand trial

Lord Janner has been formally found unfit to stand trial regarding a string of historical sexual offences at a hearing at the Old Bailey.

The peer and former Labour MP is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia, which is incurable, severe and has left him unable to participate in a trial, four experts who have examined him have agreed.

The decision on Monday means that there will not be a full criminal trial to hear the claims against Janner, which span three decades.

Instead, he is expected to face a “trial of the facts”, where the jury is asked to decide – on the basis of evidence adduced by prosecution lawyers and by lawyers who put the case for the defence – whether or not the accused did the acts he or she was charged with.

Such a trial of facts may sound an unusual procedure to the layperson but, as I pointed out in April, it is not that rare.

And a trial of the facts in the case of an MP who is unfit to plead too place as recently as 2012.